Sheffield Nelson

Sheffield Nelson was hired by Witt Stephens as his executive assistant at Arkansas Louisiana Gas, rose as a salesman and executive while attending law school at night, and in 1973, on Stephens's retirement and at his choice, became president of the utility at thirty-two.¹

"A major split occurred between Nelson and his predecessor when, in 1975, Nelson refused to renegotiate old gas contracts with Stephens Production Company." He also lobbied against a bill that would have made Arkla carry gas from Stephens wells for a rival utility. "Witt Stephens never got over his resentment."¹

In 1982 Arkla sold Jerry Jones, whose Arkoma Production Company had been formed the April before, half of its interest in 28,500 acres of the Cecil and Aetna gas fields in the Arkoma Basin for 15 million dollars, with an undertaking to buy three quarters of all the gas he could find. The property "was bought back by Arkla for far more than it was sold to Jones." The family of Witt Stephens held acreage in the same fields under long contracts that paid 16 and 55 cents per thousand cubic feet. "After negotiating with Jones, the old contracts were broken on April 28, 1983, and Arkoma and Stephens began sharing in gas now being sold to Arkla under new Jones-negotiated agreements," at three dollars. "Arkla ratepayers would pay the difference." The Securities and Exchange Commission made an informal inquiry in 1983 and took no action, and the state's Public Service Commission found no clear wrongdoing that year. It opened a second investigation in the fall of 1989 on learning that Arkla had paid Arkoma 174.8 million dollars to be released from the contract. Nelson retired on December 31, 1984, and named Mack McLarty as his successor.¹²

Nelson joined the Republican Party in 1989 and ran for governor of Arkansas in 1990. He won the primary with 54 percent against Representative Tommy Robinson, whom the Stephens family supported. "Arkoma continued to dominate the fall campaign, and Clinton won his fifth term with fifty-seven percent of the vote." McLarty became Clinton's first White House chief of staff.¹